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Eun-bi's mother was driving her crazy.

The older woman was spending every minute, hour and day worrying about how her eldest daughter was coping in the palace. Whenever Eun-bi attempted to escape, that stubborn mother of hers would effortlessly find her in her hiding spots. From there she would yadda yadda yadda non-stop.

How she had found Eun-bi was a mystery indeed. Perhaps it was really a maternal instinct after all.

Honestly, her mother should spend her energy on doing something useful instead. Like swatting the flies or chasing rodents out of the house. Or she could host a meeting with her lovely friends whose hobby was to gossip about the tiniest things.

Even Eun-bi's father wasn't helping at all. On days where he didn't need to report to work at the palace as a royal historian, he would retreat to his office room and ensure that the doors were locked from the inside. Once he was inside, he would never step a foot outside unless necessary.

To communicate with him, Eun-bi wrote down her message on a piece of paper before crushing it into a ball with her hands. She tossed it through the gap in his window from the outside, hearing her father's little squeak when the paper struck the back of his head.

"Father, can you please help me? Mother has gone nuts!"

A while later, a white, flying object flew out of the window and hit her head this time. Yes, her perfect aiming skill was an inheritance from her father.

Unfolding the paper ball, she scoffed at his skittish response.

"Sorry, daughter! You're on your own." Her father told her, before adding another line below, his scrawl was messier than usual as if he was shivering from fear. "Women are scary."

Deeming her father was hopeless, Eun-bi decided to flee from the mansion with the excuse of accompanying her maid, Da-hee, to the market to pick up a few groceries.

In her eyes, Da-hee wasn't simply her maid, she was her best friend. They had met each other three years ago, when Da-hee's parents passed away and she was almost sold off to another household – a notorious noble family who was known to ill-treat their servants.

At that point of time, Eun-bi had witnessed everything by coincidence and demanded her father to intervene. They took Da-hee under their wings and ever since then, both girls had grown a liking towards each other and would always keep each other company. If Yoo-jung wasn't around, Da-hee would be there to lend her a listening ear.

As Da-hee walked behind Eun-bi, she bit her bottom lip nervously. "My lady, you really shouldn't be coming with me when I'm running my errands. You might get scolded by your mother again."

Eun-bi grinned and slowed her stride so that she was now walking side by side with the demure girl. "Of course, I should. My ears are about to bleed because of my mother. But don't worry, you don't have to care about me. I'll just walk beside you, unless I'm disrupting you from doing something...or meeting someone."

"T-That's not true! Who am I supposed to meet?"

Eun-bi narrowed her eyes. "You're growing nervous. Are you hiding something from me? Maybe something that's flat-chested and has long, hairy legs?"

"My lady!" Da-hee blushed and her voice went a pitch higher. A sign that she was hiding something. "Quit teasing me!"

Her hysterical response only made Eun-bi burst out laughing. "You better tell me before I find out," she warned Da-hee teasingly and cracked her knuckles. "You should know better than anyone else that no secrets can slip past me. I'll find out in no time. If he's a bad man, I'm ready to beat him up for good."

However, her maid kept her lips sealed. She walked ahead and pretended she hadn't heard the last line. Laughing, Eun-bi shook her head but did not press the matter.

Numerous shophouses lined up on both sides of the lanes and the girls walked through the lively street, taking their time to look at the items on sale. They stopped by a stall selling vegetables and Da-hee got right to work.

"Good evening ladies, would you like some radish or carrots?"

"Yes," Da-hee answered the stall owner instead while Eun-bi was busy fiddling around with a leek. "Do you mind throwing in some peppers, sir?"

"That won't be a problem at all, Miss!"

As he wrapped up their purchases, Eun-bi accidentally overheard a conversation coming from a group of customers at the next stall chatting about strange news. The words that spilled from their lips caught her attention and she stepped a little closer to listen carefully.

"Did you hear? Minister Park has donated a hundred sacks of rice to the villages down the south. Such a generous man, isn't he? The heavens will bless him for helping the poor."

Hearing this, Eun-bi started frowning.

Minister Park? As in the very same man who was working as the Minister of Taxation?

And he did...WHAT?

Assuming that he was the same old man she had met yesterday as they didn't even exchange names, she soon realised that he did what she had asked him to. He managed to complete the difficult task that she had given him.

And now, it was her turn to take up his challenge.

She muttered a string of colourful words under her breath, surprised that the minister had held up his end of the bargain. She had thought it was a joke but he was honestly taking this whole thing a lot more seriously than she had thought. The old man wasn't just wrinkly, weird and insanely rich. There was something mentally wrong in his head somewhere...

Fine.

She shall just go along with his delirious plans this once. If she failed, she would back out of it right away.

Besides, who could resist the chance of receiving a small island? Even her parents couldn't afford that. Eun-bi could stay there for the rest of her life - living in a small, humble hut, growing her own flower beds and riding on her horse across the soft, honey sand and grasses until she grew old. But that would have to wait until she finished her job. For now, she would have to wait for the minister's son to appear before her so that she could carry out her plan of annoying him till death.

How many donkey years was he going to take anyway? Surely, he would have realised by now that his precious jade charm was missing?

"Knock, knock." Da-hee tapped a knuckle against her temple, jolting her out of her thoughts. "Snap out of it, my lady! You have this weird grin on your face and it's making you look ugly."

Eun-bi whirled around instantly with shock. "Such insolence! Didn't you just tell me yesterday that I look as beautiful as a butterfly?"

Da-hee gave her a casual shrug. "Did I? Hmm, I don't recall. Must have been your imagination."

Eun-bi gasped loudly. "That can't be happening. You shouldn't be having a poor memory at this young age. If you can't even remember this, how can you remember the name and face of the man who has been secretly courting you? He's going to be so disappointed."

"Lady Eun-bi!" Da-hee exclaimed, her nostrils flared slightly in annoyance. She readjusted the basket of vegetables on her arm. "You're not letting this topic rest, aren't you?"

"No." Eun-bi's response only made her maid sigh loudly. She laughed and gave Da-hee's cheek a light pat. "So, Da-hee, who is he? Is he the man that has been following us for some time now? Because he's actually quite the looker."

"What?"

Seeing her maid's confused face, Eun-bi jabbed a thumb in the direction of their tall, mysterious stalker. He stood a good distance away and was pretending to be immersed in the shoes that were selling at one of the stalls. Da-hee snuck a glance back and when she finally noticed him, her body stiffened with a troubled expression.

Her voice dropped into a low whisper with a hint of fear laced in her tone. "Lady Eun-bi? I honestly don't know who this man is."

"What?" Eun-bi's face creased into a confused frown. Clearly, she wasn't expecting this sort of answer from Da-hee and she didn't even seem to be joking. If this man wasn't her maid's suitor, it couldn't possibly be hers either.

Well then, who was he?

"Da-hee..." she drawled. "Remember how many sweet rice cakes we ate for our late-night supper? I say it's time for a little run."

Da-hee stared at her with worried eyes. "Hang on, my lady... You're aware that you tend to trip a lot while walking, right? And you want to try running now?"

There was a brief pause as Eun-bi felt greatly offended. She shot her maid a serious look, barely suppressing a snort of incredulous laughter.

"...like I mentioned before, I'm working on it."

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A/N: There are only a few chapters but I never expected this overwhelming response from you guys. 🙈🙉🙊 You guys are too sweeeeet. 🥰